Conventionally, techniques for operating plural processors in parallel are known (see, e.g., Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses that a primary processor that manages a system as a whole reads an operating system (OS) in a primary system disc at the time of startup. In response to an operation request from the primary processor, master processors for managing individual groups are started up in parallel. Each of the master processors for the individual groups that has been started up reads an OS in a group system disc and starts up a secondary processor in the group. In this way, the individual group master processors and secondary processors are started up in parallel.
As another technology for operating plural OS's in parallel, a virtual machine system is known. In this virtual machine system, real hardware (physical resources), such as processors and memory, are virtualized and plural hardware environments (virtual machines) are generated. In each of such virtual machines, an individual OS can be run.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-116262